---
title: 'Space Datacenter Networking Engineer at Cowboy Space Corp.'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/space-datacenter-networking-engineer-cowboy-space-corp-san-carlos-6es3khwdajwy'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-18'
---

# Space Datacenter Networking Engineer at Cowboy Space Corp.

- **Company:** Cowboy Space Corp.
- **Location:** San Carlos, CA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-10-06
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-18
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/cowboyspace/287b0b0a-1829-460b-9b2b-41185c92233d

## Job description

Space Datacenter Networking Engineer | Job Description Cowboy Space Corp. is building the infrastructure to power and connect the orbital economy. Our satellites operate in low Earth orbit to collect sunlight and enable a new class of capabilities—from powering on-orbit compute and transmitting energy via infrared lasers to delivering secure, high-bandwidth optical data. By rethinking how energy and data are generated and distributed in space, we are unlocking entirely new ways to operate in orbit and on Earth. Founded in 2024 by Baiju Bhatt (co-founder of Robinhood), Cowboy Space Corp. is backed by leading investors and built by a team from top aerospace and defense organizations. We are moving quickly to solve complex technical challenges and build a new category of space infrastructure.

## The Role

As a Space Datacenter Networking Engineer, you will design the high-performance fabric that allows accelerators in orbit to operate as a cluster. You will own the compute, storage, management, and diagnostic networks inside the payload and their interfaces to spacecraft communications and ground systems. A degraded link cannot require a technician. You will design performance, telemetry, failure isolation, and recovery into the network, then prove that behavior with representative workloads and injected faults. This architecture and lab role is based in San Carlos, California.

## Responsibilities

- Own topology, protocols, addressing, routing, performance targets, and failure domains for Space Datacenter networks.
- Select and integrate switches, adapters, interconnects, cabling, and management components.
- Model and measure collective performance, congestion, latency, availability, and workload sensitivity.
- Define management and diagnostic paths that remain available through compute-fabric failures.
- Build telemetry that identifies marginal links and components before they fail.
- Develop isolation, rerouting, and graceful-degradation behavior with firmware and software teams.
- Build representative test fabrics, automate validation, inject faults, and lead root-cause analysis.
- Define spacecraft and ground interfaces and qualify critical components for the mission environment.

## Basic Qualifications

- 5+ years designing or operating high-performance AI, HPC, storage, or low-latency networks.
- Deep experience with InfiniBand, RoCE, high-performance Ethernet, or a comparable compute fabric.
- Strong understanding of topology, congestion control, collective communication, failure domains, and telemetry.
- Hands-on experience configuring, benchmarking, and debugging network hardware.
- Proficiency in Python or another language used for test automation and telemetry analysis.
- Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

## Preferred Qualifications

- Rail-optimized network design for distributed training or inference.
- Embedded, remote, power-constrained, or radiation-exposed networking experience.
- Switch or adapter firmware, FPGA, kernel-driver, or low-level network-software experience.
- Automated fault injection, health scoring, adaptive routing, or link isolation.
- Spacecraft communications, optical inter-satellite links, or ground-link interface experience.

## What You Will Accomplish

In your first year, you will:

- Establish the baseline Space Datacenter network topology, interfaces, and performance model.
- Demonstrate representative collective-workload performance on an integrated test fabric.
- Prove detection, isolation, and recovery for the network failure modes that matter in flight.

## Compensation and Benefits

The salary range for this position is $196,720 - $236,484 annually. The actual base salary offered will depend on factors such as job-related skills, experience, qualifications, and internal equity.

- Equity in Cowboy Space Corp.
- Employees and their eligible dependents may enroll in medical, dental, and vision insurance.
- 401(k) retirement savings plan.
- Paid time off and 10 paid holidays per calendar year.
- Paid parental leave.
- Relocation assistance, if applicable.
- Daily lunch in the office and a fully stocked kitchen with beverages and snacks. ITAR Requirements Export Control Requirement: To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), applicants must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about ITAR here. Disclaimer This job description is a summary of the primary duties and responsibilities of the job and position. It is not intended to be a comprehensive or all-inclusive listing of duties and responsibilities. Contents are subject to change at Cowboy Space Corp.'s discretion. Cowboy Space Corp. is an equal employment opportunity employer. We consider individuals for employment or promotion according to their skills, abilities, and experience. Cowboy Space Corp. is committed to complying with all applicable laws prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religious creed, age, national origin, ancestry, physical, mental or developmental disability, sex (which includes pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding and medical conditions relating to pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding), veteran status, military status, marital or registered domestic partnership status, medical condition (including cancer or genetic characteristics), genetic information, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, as well as any other category protected by federal, state, or local laws.

## About Cowboy Space Corp.

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Cowboy Space Corp. is building a vertically integrated orbital infrastructure system—satellites, rockets, and space-based solar power—to run AI compute in Low Earth Orbit.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series B, raised $275 M in May 2026 at a $2 B valuation)
- **Headquarters**: San Carlos, California, United States (with an engineering hub in Seattle, WA)
- **Founded**: 2023 per LinkedIn; 2024 per Built In and other reports (conflicting data)
- **Founders**: Baiju Bhatt (co‑founder and former co‑CEO of Robinhood)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Space‑based AI infrastructure / Defense and Space Manufacturing
- **Target customers**: AI companies, hyperscalers, government/defense agencies that need high‑performance compute without Earth’s power‑grid constraints
- **Mission statement**: “Build the power grid for AI in space” – harnessing abundant solar power in Low Earth Orbit to run on‑orbit GPU data centers

## Products & Services
- **Stampede Constellation**: A planned 20,000‑satellite LEO constellation of orbital data centers that capture solar energy to power NVIDIA GPU racks (~800 GPUs per satellite). Inter‑satellite optical laser links provide high‑speed data transmission.
- **Purpose‑Built Launch Vehicle**: A rocket whose upper stage is itself a 1‑megawatt data center with active thermal management and integrated compute, eliminating redundant structure and mass. First launch targeted before end of 2028.
- **Space‑Based Solar Power**: Satellites in dawn‑dusk sun‑synchronous orbits capture near‑continuous solar energy, beaming power wirelessly via infrared lasers (first demo satellite built with Apex Space).
- **NVIDIA Space‑1 Vera Rubin Modules**: Custom AI compute hardware designed for LEO, integrated into the Stampede satellites.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: $2 B as of the Series B round in May 2026
- **Key Metric**: Total funding ~$335 M (Series B $275 M + Series A $50 M + seed/pre‑seed ~$10 M). Annual revenue is not publicly available.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Index Ventures (lead, Series B), IVP, Blossom Capital, SAIC, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Construct Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, Interlagos, Baiju Bhatt (personal capital). Partnered with NVIDIA, Apex Space, and the U.S. Department of Defense (OECIF funding).
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - Headcount grew ~205 % year‑over‑year (42 employees per LinkedIn mid‑2026; Built In reports 61 total employees – conflicting data)
  - Filed FCC application in May 2026 for a 20,000‑satellite orbital data center system
  - Opened a Seattle engineering hub in March 2026
  - Won DoD funding for power beam proof‑of‑concept; received Commercial Spaceflight Federation membership

## Competitive Advantages
- **Full‑stack integration**: The rocket’s upper stage is the satellite itself, eliminating redundant mass and dedicated launch‑satellite interfaces, allowing more compute per kilogram.
- **Space‑based solar power**: Satellites in sun‑synchronous orbits harvest near‑continuous solar energy, bypassing terrestrial grid bottlenecks that take 5–7 years for new data center connections.
- **Vertically owned manufacturing and launch**: Controls the entire value chain – from launch vehicle to orbital data center and optical data transmission – enabling rapid iteration and scale.

## Strategic Focus
- Scale the Stampede constellation to thousands of satellites, each hosting hundreds of GPUs, to deliver orbital compute at a scale impossible on Earth.
- Launch the first satellite (power beaming demo with Apex Space) and complete the first integrated vehicle launch before 2028.
- Continue to partner with defense and government agencies (e.g., DoD) while also serving commercial AI customers.
- Rebranded from “Aetherflux” in May 2026 to unify the company’s identity around the “Cowboy” mission.

## Why Work Here
- **Team pedigree**: Engineers from SpaceX, Blue Origin, NASA/JPL, Astranis, Anduril, Amazon Kuiper, NVIDIA, and Robinhood. Strong aerospace and AI/ML culture.
- **Work model**: Hybrid – employees engage in a combination of remote and on‑site work; many roles are listed as “in‑office” in San Carlos or Seattle.
- **Culture & perks**: A fast‑paced startup tackling one of the hardest infrastructure problems (space‑based AI compute). Roles span electrical engineering, optical comms, GNC, firmware, supply chain, and talent acquisition. Emphasis on “building the future” and strengthening U.S. energy independence and national security.
- **Growth opportunity**: Joining a company that has just raised a $275 M Series B at a $2 B valuation, with aggressive hiring across technical and leadership positions.

## Sources
1. [cowboyspace.com](https://www.cowboyspace.com/)
2. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/cowboyspace)
3. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/cowboy-space-corporation)
4. [siliconvalleyinvestclub.com](https://siliconvalleyinvestclub.com/cowboy-space/)

## Other roles at Cowboy Space Corp.

- [Optical Engineer, Test & Metrology](https://feeny.ai/job/optical-engineer-test-metrology-cowboy-space-corp-san-carlos-ap2dcckh5m9j) — San Carlos, CA
- [Ground Station Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/ground-station-software-engineer-cowboy-space-corp-san-carlos-ca-or-kent-fyvnyrp1d9fj) — San Carlos CA OR Kent, WA
- [Stage 1 Lead Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/stage-1-lead-engineer-cowboy-space-corp-kent-8ys2fh6p6fx8) — Kent, WA
- [Navigation Sensor Hardware Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/navigation-sensor-hardware-engineer-cowboy-space-corp-kent-rqhnfemrcadz) — Kent, WA
- [Senior RF Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-rf-engineer-cowboy-space-corp-san-carlos-p08ftyc3ct71) — San Carlos, CA
- [Senior Sourcing and Procurement Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-sourcing-and-procurement-manager-cowboy-space-corp-san-carlos-1x9yyjky4tap) — San Carlos, CA
- [Head of Marketing and Communications](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-marketing-and-communications-cowboy-space-corp-san-carlos-ca-or-kent-1ha11yk5wh3z) — San Carlos CA OR Kent, WA
- [Executive & Corporate Communications Partner](https://feeny.ai/job/executive-corporate-communications-partner-cowboy-space-corp-san-carlos-ca-or-8q4wyq5tg85k) — San Carlos CA OR Kent, WA
- [Senior Mechanisms Engineer - Vehicle](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-mechanisms-engineer-vehicle-cowboy-space-corp-kent-7bj3pam2zp2s) — Kent, WA
- [Controls Software Engineer, Pointing & Tracking](https://feeny.ai/job/controls-software-engineer-pointing-tracking-cowboy-space-corp-san-carlos-4gkd2vwbp0ty) — San Carlos, CA